News: XEJ Australian shares fall as commodity-related stocks drag; AMP shines

Aug 8 (Reuters) - Australian shares opened lower on Thursday as mining and energy stocks lost ground, while money manager AMP jumped to the top of the benchmark stock index after reporting a higher profit for the first half.

The S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) fell 0.7% to 7,646.7 by 0048 GMT, after closing 0.3% higher on Wednesday.

Mining stocks .AXMM led the losses with a 2.2% drop after iron ore prices settled lower overnight. Sector majors BHP (BHP) , Rio Tinto (RIO) and Fortescue (FMG) fell between 1.2% and 2.1%.

BHP is looking to sell gold and copper mines in Brazil that it had taken over as part of the Oz Minerals buyout, Bloomberg News reported overnight.

Limiting the losses on the benchmark index, AMP (AMP) rose as much as 12.8% to hit its highest level in nearly 11 months, after the money manager reported first-half earnings ahead of market estimates.

Real estate stocks .AXRE fell 2.2% amid expectations of higher-for-longer interest rates in the country.

Mirvac Group (MGR) fell up to 12.8% and was set to record its biggest one-day drop in more than four years after posting a bigger annual loss.

Energy stocks .AXEJ tracked the broader market lower and were last down 0.8%, despite slightly higher oil prices.

Brent crude LCOc1 futures rose 0.23% to $78.51 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 gained 0.29% to $75.45 per barrel.

Overnight, the U.S. Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 0.60%, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 0.77%, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq .IXIC shed 1.05%.

Gold stocks .AXGD dropped 3.2%, also tracking the broader market. Spot gold XAU= rose 0.18% to $2,386.80 in early trade.

Gold miners Northern Star Resources (NST) and Evolution Mining (EVN) dropped 2.6% and 4.7%, respectively.

In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) fell 0.8% to 12,225.59.